spanish for "neighbor".
Who is our neighbor? And how are we supposed to love them?
These questions seem easy to answer for any seasoned Christian who has probably heard countless sermons and stories on the parable of the Good Samaritan. Everyone is our neighbor and we are supposed to love them all with all that we've got.
But here's another question: What if one of our neighbors isn't loving our other neighbor? What do we do then? We can keep on loving both neighbors, but how do we reconcile the other two to each other?
And then, what if the one neighbor is a whole nation and the other neighbor is an entire people group?
 |
| One island. Two nations. Lots of turmoil. |
The Dominican Republic has been in the news lately. If you haven't heard, there has been much talk around a recent Dominican supreme court decision about the status of Haitians in the DR. It's no secret that there is, and has been throughout the island's history, much racism against Haitians here. (For a good article on this, click here.) As I understand it, this new law calls into question the Dominican citizenship of the sons and daughters of Haitian 'migrant' workers- going back to 1929. It means that people who consider the DR to be home are being disowned by the country, affecting their national identity and their access to public education and healthcare:
"The nation’s top court has declared that the children of undocumented Haitian migrants — even those born on Dominican soil decades ago — are no longer entitled to citizenship, throwing into doubt the status of tens of thousands of people here who have never known any other national identity." - from the New York Times
"Last week the country’s Constitutional Court ruled that the children of undocumented migrants who have been in the Dominican Republic and registered as Dominicans as far back as 1929, cannot have Dominican nationality as their parents are considered to be 'in transit.'" - from the United Nations News
It's a complicated situation, I'm sure. Brad and I have spent hours talking about it- what to think, how to react, how to engage others in the conversation- we're at a loss. We know the answer is 'love', but what does that look like? What does it look like to discuss with our Dominican friends about the decisions of their government? How do we talk to our students about all of it? And how do we do all of this in a country and culture where we are guests, also foreigners, and want to be sensitive and not simply impose our own beliefs as the 'know-it-all Americans'?
We're not sure. And we're still searching for, thinking about, praying about, engaging in conversations about the answer. Until then, I've been reading and meditating on the following verses:
"When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God." - Leviticus 19.33-34
"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" - Luke 10.27
(written by Emily)
